Montevideo, Uruguay - Recent

While Uruguayans vote in Sunday's first round of presidential elections, the country's domestic politics, contracting with seismic political shifts in the region, shows stability, partly owing to its moderate election candidates.

With Uruguay's conservative president Luis Lacalle Pou stepping down after his term, Yamandu Orsi, a 57-year-old former teacher from the center-left coalition Frente Amplio, is the frontrunner, according to recent polls. Orsi's campaign received a boost from the support of former President Jose Pepe Mujica.

President Lacalle Pou's former cabinet chief, 55-year-old Alvaro Delgado from the National Party, is in the second place, promising continuity of the current government's policies. Colorado Party presidential candidate Andres Ojeda ranked third.

Despite regional political disturbance, the country shows stability amid election, which, according to political analyst Mauro Casa, is due to a social consensus against radicalization.

Parallel to the election, two plebiscites are taking place, addressing the allowance of night-time police raids to combat crime, and a pension reform to reduce retirement age. Uruguayan people showed passion over those social and economic issues, which watered down the presidential debate, according to Eduardo Bottinelli, director of Factum, an institution for political analysis and public opinion research.

If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of Sunday's vote, a runoff election will be held on Nov 24 to make final decisions.

Shotlist:
Montevideo, Uruguay - Recent:
1. Various of Montevideo Independence Square, national flag of Uruguay;
2. Various of presidential campaign posters of Yamandu Orsi, Alvaro Delgado;
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mauro Casa, political analyst (partially overlaid with shot 4):
"Uruguayan people look at the region with a lot of concern about radicalization in public speech and things like that. So, I wouldn't say that we are vaccinated against all of that. It could happen at some time. But nowadays there is no a context of crisis or there is no, like a social, revolt against a politician. So fortunately it's not going to be the case this time.";
[SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
4. Various of people on street, carrying Frente Amplio flag, holding leaflets for Alvaro Delgado campaign;
[SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE]
5. People on street;
6. Various of Eduardo Bottinelli, director of Factum, talking, pointing at poll results;
7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Eduardo Bottinelli, director, Factum:
"Besides social security issues, there are other important issues that worry the population, such as economic concerns like unemployment and low wages. Debate over the social security plebiscite took up a lot of time in the campaign and diverted attention from other issues that might impact the ruling party.";
8. Various of people waving, carrying flags of Frente Amplio, National Party;
9. Street view of Montevideo.

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